I’m not that keen on fierce dictatorship. I think that sort of the point of working with somebody is them coming up with stuff and feeling free to do that.
A lot of it is really bad sound, really low quality. So the librarian in me wants it at least to exist there so that in 20 years when I’m sitting in my rocking chair, it will still exist in the best sound quality possible, even though it only sold 1000 units or whatever.
When I write a song, I see a tunnel, and then the chorus is an open space, or the bassline is doing this shape. I see songs as a more of a geometric, spacial experience.
I’ve written arrangements for choirs and strings in the past, but I usually write music with my voice or a keyboard and then I’ll get someone who is good at writing scores to write it out. Or, if I have the luxury of time.
When I was 20, political music was the uncoolest thing on earth. But when Bush got elected, that was the first time I started actually reading the news.
When I was a teenager in Iceland people would throw rocks and shout abuse at me because they thought I was weird. I never got that in London no matter what I wore.
